Ana J. Matosantos served as cabinet secretary in the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. Previously, she was a budget and policy consultant, focusing primarily on issues relating to the state budget, education finance, health care, income inequality, and local government.
She served as director of the California Department of Finance in both the Brown and Schwarzenegger administrations, helping the State deal with the impact of the Great Recession. She was Governor Brown’s chief fiscal advisor as the state closed a $27 billion shortfall and transitioned from years of recurring budget deficits to multibillion dollar surpluses.
She played a key role in the enactment of California’s new school financing and accountability system, the state’s financing and implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the implementation of corrections realignment.
Before joining the California Department of Finance in 2008, she served as deputy legislative secretary for Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs in the Office of the Governor, working on the administration’s comprehensive health care reform proposal. She was a member of the Health and Human Services Agency staff from 2004 to 2007, serving as assistant secretary for programs and fiscal affairs as well as associate secretary for legislative affairs.
Prior to her executive branch service, she worked in the state senate as a consultant to the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and as the human services consultant of the Senate Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review.
In August 2016, she was appointed by President Obama to serve on the seven-member Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board, charged with working with the government of Puerto Rico to achieve structural budget balance, restructure massive debts and obligations, and rebuild opportunity for the people of Puerto Rico after a decade of economic contraction and population decline.
She was appointed as a Regent in July 2022 by Governor Newsom to a term expiring in 2034.